RAIL

Frontiers of Rationality
and Decision

Final workshop of a European research network
funded by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research

29-31 August 2012
University of Groningen, The Netherlands

INTRODUCTION

Formal models of theoretical rationality have seen major recent changes. The consequences for practical rationality have yet to be worked out. Over the past three years a network of experts has held a series of targeted research meetings to address this question.

In this final meeting, we aim to look ahead in time, and beyond the frontiers of research on formal philosophical approaches to reasoning and decision making. We have five guests: Branden Fitelson, Jeff Helzner, Simon Hutegger, Katya Tentori, and Kevin Zollman. There will also be presentations by many of the network participants listed below.

 

R&D RESEARCH NETWORK

The research network for rationality and decision is led by Jan-Willem Romeijn and Olivier Roy. Members are: Johan van Benthem, Luc Bovens, Richard Bradley, Jacob Chandler, Michael Cozic, Franz Dietrich, Richard Dietz, Igor Douven, Stephan Hartmann, Martin van Hees, Brian Hill, Barteld Kooi, Hannes Leitgeb, Christian List, Eric Pacuit, Jeanne Peijnenburg, Wlodek Rabinowicz, Sonja Smets, Kai Spiekermann, Jan Sprenger, Katie Steele, Annika Wallin, and Jon Williamson.

Over the past years we have extended the network with a number of people: Alexandru Baltag, Seamus Bradley, Mareile Drechsler, Catarina Dutilh-Novaes, Patryk Dziurosz-Serafinowicz, Conrad Heilmann, Ronnie Hermens, Soroush Raffee Rad, and Rory Smead.

 

CALL FOR PAPERS

We invite submissions for a limited number of contributed talks. Please send an anonymized abstract of 1000 words to RatDec2012@rug.nl by April 15. The programme committee consists of the members of the research network. Notifications of acceptance will be sent out by May 15 at the latest.

 

SUMMER SCHOOL

Just before the conference, August 23-28, the University of Groningen will host a summer school on formal methods in philosophy, organised by Catarina Dutilh-Novaes. All conference participants are cordially invited to attend. Further details for this event can be found here.

 

PREVIOUS R&D MEETINGS

The conference on the frontiers of rationality and decision is the fifth in a series.

• A launch meeting was held at the University of Groningen, in tandem with Progic 2009. Guests were Jim Joyce and Teddy Seidenfeld.

• A second meeting was organised at the University of Leuven, where Didier Dubois, Alan Hajek, Hans Rott, and Vladimir Vovk were our guests. This orientation meeting led to two focused research meetings.

• The third meeting was on deliberation at the London School of Economics, with Brian Skyrms, and Henry Prakken as guests.

• The fourth meeting was on radical uncertainty at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich. Guests were Kevin Kelly and Leonard Smith.

We are presently producing two special issues reporting the results of the focused meetings.

 

PROGRAMME

A detailed programme with talks and abstract will be provided in due course.

 

TALKS

After the conference all the slides will be made available on this website.

 

REGISTRATION AND FEES

To register, please send an email to RatDec2012@rug.nl Participants of the summer school can join the conference free of charge. Others are charged 50 euro, which can be deposited into the following bank account, mentioning the budget code.

	Dutch account	4017 18468
	IBAN	NL23 ABNA 04017 18468
	BIC	ABNA NL2A
	Recipient	Rijksuniversiteit Groningen Faculteit Wijsbegeerte Oude Boteringestraat 52 9712 GL Groningen The Netherlands
	Budget code	720 211
	Bank address	ABN-Amro Bank Postbus 686 8000 AR Zwolle The Netherlands

 

TRAVEL

To get to Groningen, you can fly to Schiphol Airport near Amsterdam. From Schiphol Airport you can take a direct train to Groningen, leaving at 20 past the whole hour from platform 3. Alternatively, you can take the train leaving at 50 past the whole hour from platform 3 and change at Amersfoort. At Amersfoort you arrive on platform 1. The train to Groningen leaves from the opposite side of the platform, numbered 2.

Alternatively, there is the small and convenient Eelde Airport near Groningen. Please check their website for the latest on connections to Groningen from scattered European airports. Bus 52 brings you to the Groningen train station.

Most of the hotels are within walking distance from Groningen train station. There is a taxi stand to the left of the exit of the old station building. If you wonder what your walk will be like, please consult the following map.

 

ACCOMMODATION

There are many hotels in the centre of Groningen. Here are a few suggestions in different price ranges, all of them in the old town centre.

• Hotel de Ville, 150 euro, luxurious and opposite the Faculty of Philosophy.
• Hotel Schimmelpenninckhuys, 120 euro, a really charming place.
• Hotel Corps de Garde, 100 euro, nice historical building, very close to the Faculty of Philosophy.
• Martini Hotel, 80 euro, friendly and decent.
• City Hotel, 80 euro, similarly decent and friendly.

 

ORGANIZATION

This conference is organised by Jan-Willem Romeijn and Olivier Roy, with local support from Patryk Dziurosz-Serafinowicz and Ronnie Hermens.

 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We are very grateful to the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research NWO for providing financial support.